THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2009
San Diego Community Newspaper Group
www.SDNEWS.com Volume 14, Number 52
The North Pacific has a garbage patch, kids SIO researchers sample debris BY JULIE KINYOUN | VILLAGE NEWS
For 20 days this past August, a group of oceanography students from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), accompanied by a public service organization, Project Kaisei, traveled through the North Pacific Ocean Gyre to sample plastic debris and garbage in the ocean. The Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX) voyaged from southern California to the coastal waters of Hawaii and back to Newport Beach, Oregon. It took a first magnifying-glass look at the extent of plastic damage in the North Gyre. SIO director Tony Haymet
described the trip as “a forage into the great plastic garbage patch in the north” during a press conference held on Aug. 27, approximately one week after the expedition returned. The voyage on the research vessel New Horizon was led by SIO graduate student and scientist Miriam Goldstein, who initiated the trip with a funding grant she wrote to gain use of one of the revered SIO research ships. In summary of the research data collected on the ship Goldstein stated, “We did find debris… coming up in our nets in over 100 consecutive net tows over a distance of 1,700 miles… SEE GARBAGE, Page 10
A SWIRL OF SKIRTS Maria Garcia of Mariachi Real de San Diego twirls her beautiful costume during the Aug. 30 La Jolla Concerts by the Sea show at Scripps Park. The free summer series wraps this Sunday, Sept. 6 with Benny Hollman’s Big Band ExploVILLAGE NEWS | PAUL HANSEN sion, 2-4 p.m.
La Jollan fastest man to swim Catalina Channel
Moxie conjures witches times at least three
BY ANTHONY GENTILE | VILLAGE NEWS BY CHARLENE BALDRIDGE | VILLAGE NEWS
La Jollan Todd Robinson swam his way into history on Aug. 25. Robinson set the men’s world record for swimming the 21-mile Catalina Channel. “It’s a long way to go and it’s longer than I’ve ever swum before, so I was pretty happy with the way we were able to push through and make it to the other side,” Robinson said. Robinson completed the swim in 8:05:44, starting a little after midnight in order to swim the calmest water possible. He said it was the first time he had swum long distance at night. “It was a surreal experience because your hand enters the water and you get the phosphorescence from the contact, so you’re kind of swimming in your own self-created light,” Robinson said. Going into the swim, Robinson said setting a record was in the back of his mind. But it was not something completely in his control. “I was pretty confident that I had done all the necessary train-
Surf Report SATURDAY
Hi: 10:15 a.m. 10:16 p.m. Low: 10:15 a.m. 4:14 p.m. Size: 2-3 ft. Wind: 4-12 mph
SUNDAY
Hi: 10:39 a.m. 10:51 p.m. Low: 10:39 a.m. 4:50 p.m. Size: 2-3 ft. Wind: 4-10 mph
Todd Robinson of La Jolla powers across the Catalina Channel in the early morning of Aug. 25, on his way to setting the men’s world record.
ing to go the distance of 21 miles,” Robinson said. “The question was more whether or not I was going to get conditions which were going to allow me to swim at a pace which might allow me to break the world record.” Robinson estimates that he swam only an hour to an hour and a half in flat water. For the remainder of the swim, he batSEE CHANNEL, Page 3
Everybody loves Moxie, this season’s theater in residence at La Jolla Playhouse. They are beloved for many reasons, and topping most anyone’s list are pluck and determination. They — founders Jo Anne Glover, Liv Kellgren, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and Jennifer Eve Thorn — are devoted to works by/for/about women and, in a creative factory dominated by men, that is a refreshing and marvelous thing. As Moxie champions the work of certain women playwrights, many just starting a career or at the least whose plays are under-produced, they give courage to feminine individuality, and yes, the moxie to continue playwriting their way despite the odds. A Moxie play usually gives audiences something to chew on, attitudes and points of view one seldom finds in more mainstream theaters. Looking back on Moxie’s four seasons, one finds some of the best, most
Hams in ‘Spam’
Stamp out idea
‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’ makes its way to the Civic Theatre with traveling cast. 8
Sandy Lippe rallies UC residents to save cute little Governor Drive post office from ax. 11
PHOTO BY ROY EMIL BROWN
Lady Fossmire (Rhona Gold) sets the tale in motion in Moxie Theatre’s “Drink Me,” at La Jolla Playhouse through Sept. 27.
innovative and provocative work produced in San Diego; for instance, their recent staging of “Sugar Syndrome,” the inaugural “Kimberly Akimbo”; Liz Duffy Adams’ “Dog Act,” soon to be remounted at Moxie’s new, permanent venue, the Rolando Theatre; and Mary Fengar Gail’s hilarious “Devil
Dog Six,” produced in 2007 at 10th Avenue Theatre. For their Playhouse residency, Moxie chose another play by Gail. “Drink Me, or The Strange Case of Alice Times Three” is a fascinating, complicated exploration of the female psyche and historic fear of females’ occult power, mixed with serial murder and elements of “Alice in Wonderland.” Because the titular Alices speak Elizabethan English, the sensibility is Elizabethan even though costume designer Jennifer Brawn Gittings places us firmly in London, circa 1950. The piece is staged by Sonnenberg and Thorn with scenic design by David F. Weiner, lighting by Mia Bane Jacobs, sound by Rachel Le Vine, and wig and makeup design by Missy Bradstreet. This strange tale was set in motion by Lady Fossmire (Rhona Gold), a renowned advocate of zero population SEE WITCHES, Page 8
Colorful greenling Tide Lines takes a look at the painted greenling, or convict fish, whose males guard the eggs until they hatch. 11